Horses for Kids at Risk program now in eighth year

Horses for Kids at Risk program in eighth yearAlvin woman uses four-legged friends to help many youths

S.K. BARDWELL, Chronicle Correspondent

Published 5:30 am, Wednesday, August 23, 2006

On her 25-acre Horse 'n' Feathers Ranch in Alvin, Gayle Mauzey is up every day at 5 a.m. She goes to bed at dark, and works hard in between.

She's helping young lives.

Horses for Kids at Risk, founded in 1998 by Mauzey and a handful of volunteers, has helped hundreds of youths, from victims of head trauma to underprivileged children with learning and social problems.

Mauzey, 65, loves what she does.

"It started as a fluke," she said.

Mauzey was living in Cypress, where she operated a furniture re-upholstery and refinishing business and took in large birds that were sick, injured or unwanted.

When she was told the property she was leasing was to be sold, she had only 30 days to move, with dozens of emus and rheas.

She bought the Alvin ranch after reaching two agreements with the seller — Mauzey would be allowed to move her birds there immediately, and the seller would lease a large, new barn there until another could be built on her new property.

"So I put my birds in an older barn," Mauzey said.

When the seller's new barn was completed a year later, (the seller) relocated her horses.

A friend suggested she allow horse owners to board their animals, and she agreed. Then the same friend asked if he could bring over some horses for kids to ride, and she agreed.

"There turned out to be a lot of kids who needed a place to go after school, and a lot of kids whose parents didn't know or care where they were," Mauzey said. "Dropouts, homeless kids, there are a lot more than people think. There are a lot of gangs, a lot of kids who really need something to do. And that's how the program started."

Horses for Kids at Risk now has more than 40 horses, and about twice that many kids.

Not all the youths in the program are at the ranch at the same time. Some begin as early as 6 a.m. to work with the horses before school. Others are there at 9:30 p.m. finishing up work around the ranch. Some learn to train and show horses in accredited competitions.

"She goes every day," said Nancy Ward, Ward's mother. "She feeds and bathes the horses and helps teach sign language to the kids."

When Susie Ward was 6, a hit-and-run driver veered into oncoming traffic, striking her family's car, spinning it around until another car slammed into it. Her brother was killed in the accident.

Ward suffered head trauma and other injuries. Confined to a wheelchair, she is now 28.

The family moved to Alvin from New York in 1992.

"We were determined and still are, that Susie will not spend the rest of her life in the house," Nancy Ward said. "When she was preparing for graduation, that became imperative. We had horses in New York, and had used them in therapy while she was still in a coma. We'd put her in the saddle and try and get her to track. Gayle's program was exactly what we needed."

Horses for Kids at Risk works on donations, and since the ranch is staffed by volunteers, 100 percent of the donations reaches the youths and horses, Mauzey said.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about the program is its results. Mauzey said she has had success with every child who has been in the program.

"Every story is positive," Mauzey said. "Every story has a happy ending."